Do not repay evil for evil - The Branches, October 13, 2026

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

October 13, 2026

Hello Everyone —

Among the issues with which we are confronted and must ponder before God during this Respect Life Month:

On October 9, 2026, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued the following statement sharply condemning the U.S. government’s plans to publicly livestream the firing squad execution of a convicted criminal:

It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan. Our God is the God of life. In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The Word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil' (Rom 12:17). 

The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people. I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.

And then, of course, there was the botched execution (two lethal injections) of the Tennessee woman, Christa Gail Pike, on September 30, 2026, who lived to talk about it.

Is the solution the law of retaliation (lex talionis) or reciprocal justice? I cannot help but be reminded of the words loosely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Or are we only becoming as barbaric as that which we are trying to prevent?

As I pondered these matters in prayer, I recalled sitting with my brother bishops on June 11, 2026, in the presence of the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque as we consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And in that setting, I discovered a beautiful prayer written by St. Margaret Mary. I provide it here for your use:

O kind and merciful Savior, from my heart I earnestly desire to return You love for love. My greatest sorrow is that You are not loved by people, and, in particular, that my own heart is so cold, so selfish, so ungrateful.

Keenly aware of my own weakness and poverty, I trust that Your own grace will enable me to offer You an act of pure love. And I wish to offer You this act of pure love in reparation for the coldness and neglect that are shown to You in the sacrament of Your love by Your creatures.

O Jesus, my supreme good, I love You, not for the sake of the reward which You have promised to those who love You, but purely for Yourself. I love You above all things that can be loved, above all pleasures, and above myself and all that is not You, promising in the presence of heaven and earth that I will live and die purely and simply in Your holy love, and that if to love You thus I must endure persecution and suffering, I am completely satisfied and I will ever say with St. Paul: Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God.

O Jesus, supreme master of all hearts. I love You, I adore You, I praise You, I thank You, because I am now all Yours. Rule over me and transform my soul into the likeness of Yourself, so that it may bless and glorify You forever in the abode of the saints. Amen.

By the way, Friday, October 16 is St. Margaret Mary’s feast day.

A special request for prayers: As you may be aware, we learned over the weekend that our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, will undergo lung surgery to remove a nodule in the near future. Please keep him in your prayers, asking God to restore his health and praying that he may experience the closeness of Mary Immaculate during his recovery.

As I do for you, please pray for me,

Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee